What has it been, a month since I last posted?! Ugh, that’s too sad. I was so busy with end of year activities, that I honestly just didn’t have the time or energy to blog. Fortunately, now all (or most) of that is wrapped up, so I’ve got a bit of time to fill you in on my crazy happenings from the past month! There’s no way I can fill in all the details, but I’ll do my best to highlight the important events.

Final Exams

Since I was only taking 3 courses this spring (Thesis counts as 2 classes), it gave me a slightly lighter exam schedule. However, I found myself needing to spend a good full 6 days or so studying for my final exam, Comparative Physiology, since it was a departmental and I really wanted to achieve a good mark.

I studied a ton and even brought my notes down to the squash courts so I could work between rehab and squash coaching! Plus, I found a table where I was able to spread out all of my notes to get a grand picture of the course.

A bunch of the squash kiddies walked by and I think they were thoroughly freaked out by the amount of notes I had hand written. Don’t worry kids, you’ve still got another 8 years before you get to this point!

Senior Week in Myrtle Beach

After exams, about 1/4 of the senior class heads down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a few days before reunions and graduation start. Alex and I drove down in her white convertible Volkswagen bug, making the drive in about 11 hours including short stops.

Taken at a stoplight in Virginia!

The weather in Myrtle was absolutely perfect. It was hot but not humid, and the breeze was strong enough to cool us off, but not so forceful as to make beach-walking unpleasant.

I was happily surprised at how active most of the students were during beach week. I was expecting the days to be filled with partying, followed by a nap, and then more partying at night. Much to my relief, I found that people decided to pick between day partying and night partying, which reduced my FOMO by a ton.

Alex and me at the beach! How I miss the beach, the waves, and the beachy hair waves!

While I love going out and having fun with friends, there is really only so much partying my system can take, and I knew that I was going to have to pace myself going into the craziness that is reunions!

Car Crash

Heads up, this is where things get a little more serious. Alex and I were about 2.5 hours into hour 10-hour journey home from Myrtle, when we got into a car crash. No other cars were involved thankfully, but it was pretty serious, as we ended up hitting some trees on the left side of the highway at about 40 mph. I didn’t know it at the time, but the fact that we swerved a couple of times on the highway before heading into the ditch/trees saved our lives, as it allowed us to slow down a bit from highway speed.

Alex’s side of the car

Long story short, I managed to get out of the car after about a minute or so of pushing and banging against the doors which had been barricaded by trees, and flagged down some cars for help. I was bruised and banged up, but fortunately, nothing was broken. With the help of some strangers who had stopped, we quickly rushed back for Alex, who had suffered some lacerations to her head and face, and wasn’t able to get herself out of the car. Ambulances rushed us off the a hospital in Raleigh, where I was discharged later that night, and Alex was held for surveillance for a couple of days because of her more severe injuries.

Hanging in the hospital

Fortunately, I am happy to report that we are both alive and recovering. I had never been in a car accident of any sort, let alone one that was life-threatening. I’ll have to write another post on this, because I have much more to say on the matter, but I am very grateful for being alive, for not having suffered life-threatening injuries, and for friends who were extremely supportive during this time.

Reunions

Now car-less, I ended up flying home with a friend (shoutout to Bits!), and arrived just in time to have a quick shower, change, and head off to the Princeton Varsity Club awards banquet. Talk about a quick turnaround!

We missed Alex, but she was there in spirit, and we cheered loudly for her when her picture came up on the slideshow!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with reunions, it’s basically a big 3-day party, where all Princeton alums are invited back to drink beer, see classmates, and march in the P-rade! Thanks to my 2 hours of sleep on Wednesday night, I was too tired to participate in the festivities Thursday night, and ended up passing out around 11 pm.

Friday I found myself much better rested, and had a great time catching up with recent alums and other soon-to-be grads like myself.

Although Friday was a ton of fun, Saturday was hands-down my favourite. Princeton puts on a “P-rade”, which involves every class marching down Elm drive with their class, starting with the oldest class, and finishing with the most recent. This meant that for the first time, my class of 2015 would be able to participate!

Hadley and me at the end of the P-rade

Bits and me at the beginning of the P-rade

It’s such an incredible experience, and I imagine many non-Princetonians could find it very overwhelming- it basically looks like Halloween on steroids! (Because of the black and orange, not because people are dressed up in costumes). I loved every second of it, and I am already incredibly excited for next year!

Graduation

For some reason, Princeton feels the need to stretch out our graduation ceremonies for a full 3 days. I guess it makes sense, given that we spent 4 years on the campus- it would feel anticlimactic to only spend one day saying “goodbye”!

Chelsea, Rose, me, Matt, Blake after commencement

The Baccalaureate ceremony occurred on Sunday, followed by Class Day on Mondaymorning, Prom Mondaynight, and Commencement on Tuesdaymorning. And yes, parents attend all of these events, too! I suppose they must feel an obligation to come to all the ceremonies, since they would want to see where all (or some) of their money gets spent!

Mom, me, Dad at Prom!

Ps. It rained for all of Commencement. While we were outside. That’s dedication, people! Gotta walk out the Fitz-Randolph gates, rain or shine!

me n my umbrella-ella-ella

I still can’t quite believe that I have officially graduated from Princeton- perhaps it will finally sink in when I don’t head back in September!

Now: Job Search

Well! I have certainly ranted enough about the happenings from the past month. Now I am living at Hadley’s house in a suburb of New York, while I wait for my American visa to kick in (on July 1st), continue the job search, recover, and slowly get back into training.

Well, it’s official. Spring is here, and this past weekend kicked off my final month at Princeton! The weekend between the end of classes and the beginning of reading period is always a fun one, because it’s filled with parties! The eating clubs at Princeton host formals on Friday evening for members and their guests, followed by semi-formals on Saturday, and finally Lawnparties during the day on Sunday.

Friday

Hallie, Hadley, Alex, and me before Friday formals

I brought my friend Hadley as my date to formals on Friday. We had a little too much fun celebrating, making Saturday a rather rough day…

Hadley and me!

The evening started off with pictures around 5pm in the residential courtyards. After we took enough photographs for a new profile picture/cover photo/Instagram/whatever the kids are doing these days, everyone headed over to the eating clubs for cocktail hour/hors d’oeuvres from 6-7 pm. Dinner and dessert follow from roughly 7-8:30 ish, and then there’s often a band or DJ that comes to perform. It’s a nonstop evening, but fortunately finishes on the earlier side since things get going around 5!

Saturday

I spent some of Saturday doing rehab, watching my friend Nana compete in the triple jump, and hanging outside with friends. However, before I knew it, it was time to get ready for semis!

Me, Matt, and Chelsea

After a lot of celebrating Friday night, I approached Saturday evening with a much calmer attitude, but still enjoyed the evening. It’s always fun to see people dressed up so nicely, and the warm weather most definitely helped put a smile on people’s faces (or maybe that was because of the beverages…;)).

Sunday

The final hurrah- lawnparties!

Thanks to my rather tame Saturday night, I woke up Sunday morning feeling rather refreshed, and managed to make it out to lawnparties from roughly 11 am to 4 pm! Honestly, the weather was probably one of the biggest factors keeping me out there. I was tired and very dehydrated, but the bands playing were fun, and the sun was shining- you really couldn’t have asked for a better day!

I ended up coming home around 4, passing out/watching Gilmore Girls, and then dragging my butt to the gym to do some rehab. I was exhausted from the weekend, but knew that the only way my knee is going to get better is through consistent exercises, and so I managed to finally make it to the gym around 6pm. Hey, even small progress counts, right?

This week has somehow gone by super fast, which is crazy considering I have barely done any work! I have a paper and a lab report due next Tuesday, so I need to get working on those, but the past day or so have been consumed with visa/job things, rehab, as well as some thesis odds and ends.

As soon as this post goes up, I’m heading off to rehab, and then will hopefully be able to crank out a few hours of work and produce an outline of my lab report! Should be another busy day ahead!

Happy Friday everybody! This post maybe be one of the happiest posts I’ve ever written. Its alternative title probably could have been, “Why I’m So Happy Right Now”. Can’t complain about that, right?!

Friday Favourites

Turning in the Thesis!

Although it’s been mostly done for a couple of weeks, I officially handed in my thesis on Monday!

“Subsistence Strategies and Bone Rigidity: Comparing the Relative Femoral Rigidity of the Hasanlu and pre-Holocene Homo”

I can’t tell you how nice it is having that stress off my shoulders. I can only imagine how people whose due date was early April have been feeling for the past month! It’s pure bliss!

Post-op rehab

I kind of thought I would hate rehab, but so far I’m enjoying it! I noticed a huge difference in my mobility and strength just from one rehab session yesterday, and I’m actually excited to go back today. This is pretty strange for me, since I’m not usually one to love stretching or boring exercises. However, I am determined to get my strength back, and I know that doing these exercises religiously is the best way to get me there!

This squirrel

About 3 minutes ago I had to kick this guy out of my room.

Thank goodness my screen was closed, or I would have had a squirrel fiasco in my room!

Spring Formals

Every spring, the eating clubs put on “Houseparties”. Friday night is formals, Saturday is semis, and then Sunday is Lawnparties (a day party where you have a free pass to dress up as pastel-y/preppy/flowery as you want).

Spring Formals 2013

It’s probably my favourite weekend of the year, and since I haven’t really celebrated my thesis turn-in yet, I’m looking forward to it even more!

Rose (my roommate) and me, Fall Lawnparties 2013

Alex and me, Spring formals 2014

It’s one of the few events a year where I am adamant about taking pictures, so I’ll be sure to share some next week :).

This veggie-filled dinner (from Wednesday)

I don’t think Tuesday was a very veggie-riffic day, so I was sure to make up for it when visiting the dining hall with a few friends on Wednesday! I filled my plate with kale/quinoa/cucumber/tomato/chickpea salad, a couple baby carrot, pesto broccoli (which I picked out of the pesto pasta), farro/edamame salad, and beets!

I think I filled my veggie quota that day!

Alrighty, now I’m off to run some errands before rehab, and then it’s time to get ready for formals!!!!!!

Questions:

What’s one thing you’re loving this week?

Has a squirrel ever climbed into your room?

If you are/were in college, do/did you have spring formals? (For sororities etc).

It’s been about 2 weeks since I last blogged, but it feels like it’s been months! Okay, maybe it doesn’t seem like quite that long because I’ve been so busy, but I have missed it!

Let’s start with the biggest and most recent news….

Thursday

Remember back in October when I told you about my Baker’s Cyst? Well, the MRI ended up showing a small tear in my medial meniscus. The tear was significant enough that it needed to be repaired at some point, but not so severe that I couldn’t finish out the squash season. However, after almost two months of being out of season, I realized I needed to get the knee fixed, so…

Guess who had her meniscus operated on yesterday? Yup, this girl…

Overall, the surgery went pretty well I think, and I felt absolutely fantastic yesterday, mostly because my knee was all numbed up and I was able to walk perfectly fine!

Then, around 10:30 pm the numbing agents started to wear off, and my leg really started to throb. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had time to pick up my pain meds, because as you can see from the above picture, I went straight to the library when I got back to campus. The thesis isn’t going to finish itself!

Without pain meds, I tried to sleep from roughly midnight to 3 am, waking up every hour or so, unable to find a comfortable position. Finally around 4 am, I realized I was not only unable to sleep- I couldn’t even focus on a movie I was watching because the pain in my leg was so bad. I ended up calling the university health centre to see if I could get some emergency pain meds (Percocet) which would hopefully help me get to sleep, and tide me over until the pharmacy opened at 9 am.

I ended up getting a ride from Public Safety to the health centre, and was fast asleep in my own bed within the next 40 minutes or so. Thank goodness for pain meds!

Today

Today has been much better in terms of pain management, but much worse in terms of mobility! I have a poster for my thesis due later on today, which meant I had to get to the library to work on it this morning. And by work on it, I mean start and finish it. (By the way, I’m happy to report that it’s almost done!).

Unfortunately, the Percocet made it very difficult for me to concentrate, and gave me some pretty terrible nausea. After having not eaten since 10 am, I finally got some bland food in my system around 4 pm, which helped both my stomach and my mood.

Anyway! That’s the latest and greatest from me. How about some more positive things to finish off the post? Hello, Friday Favourites!

Friday Favourites

I picked up this protein bar at the Ustore the other day as a supplement for my morning Greek yogurt. It was surprisingly filling, and every last bite was delicious!

Spring Weather

How gorgeous are the trees that are blooming outside the dorms?! One of my favourite activities during the spring is to spend the warm evenings hanging out, chatting, and reading by the benches. Plus, there’s always lots of people who walk by, so it turns into a bit of a social event!

Almost. Done. Thesis!

The countdown is on… 3 days! To be honest, I’ve actually now finished 99% of my thesis, I just have to make sure that the table of contents is properly in order. What a relief it will be once this project is in…

And I most definitely won’t be missing the late evenings in the library…

Have you ever seen or heard of the TV show Drop Dead Diva? It finished its sixth and final season last year, and now the entire series is on Netflix!

I started the show on an absolute whim, and ended up getting hooked within the first few episodes. Needless to say, I finished the entire series pretty quickly. (45 min episodes, 13 episodes/season, 6 seasons…. all in the span of two and a half weeks, I’d say?).

To be fair, I had a decent amount of down time when I was putting graphs and tables together, or doing boring formatting. I put Drop Dead Diva on in the background, and got to work on my mundane tasks!

That’s all from me for today. Next time you hear from me, I’ll be done with my thesis!!!

Didn’t get a chance to pop in yesterday, but I’m here (briefly) today! My lack of blogging doesn’t reflect at all the amount of content I have to say- it reflects my lack of time! As I have stated in probably every single post for the past couple of weeks, my life has been constantly consumed by thesis- so much so that I even had trouble sleeping this weekend! (And I usually sleep really well…).

Anyway! Although thesis has turned my life upside down in some ways, I am finding joy in some strange ways, and kind of feel like a completely different person which is weird. Read on…

Not getting hungry/ignoring/putting off hunger

I like to eat. You know that. However, when “more important” things get in the way (like shopping…or Disneyland!), I forget to eat, or just postpone it because I am so consumed with the task at hand. For example, yesterday I think I had a yogurt for lunch, and then a salad at like 9 pm. I have no idea what is going on with my body.

Running

Although running long distances hurts my knee (ahem… catch up post to come on that once thesis is done), I have been turning to it for physical exercise and a mental break.

at least it’s a pretty library

Yesterday I think I just went and sprinted for about 45 minutes and swear I could have kept going. My mind never gets bored, and I am constantly thinking of things I have to check off my to-do list.

Panera online ordering

Did this tonight at 9:30 pm after I forgot to eat dinner when I was in the library. Saved me. Food was ready in 10 mins. Panera, thank you.

Breakfast in library at desk

Fage 0% Greek yogurt + protein bar.

Not a bad way to start off yesterday morning.

Freshly baked cookies at midnight

This building on campus called Murray Dodge offers free tea and freshly baked cookies every night from 10 pm -12:30 am. They are delicious. (Don’t judge their deliciousness based off of my subpar picture).

Sunday night, Hadley and I stopped by on our way back to our dorm rooms from the library. I had three chocolate chip cookies and felt like a million bucks.